Stardust (Nebulous Prologue)
by Nebula the Starwing
Summary: An Egg, placed in a blanket, laid on the doorstep of Jade Mountain. With three moons overhead all blazing with light, a new dragon enters the world. However, this little one is not of theirs. (This is an ongoing series, following an extraordinary dragonet as he goes through his strange life. More will come in time.)


(A bit of explanation is required for this series.

An egg is found by the gang, and they decide to raise it as their own. Obviously this egg is not of Pyrrhia, maybe not even the same planet. (Hint hint.) This series will go on for a while, documenting the dragonet's growth and experiences and such. Soon enough he'll find his way home, just stick around.~

Enjoy!~)

 _Stardust_

 **-Prologue-**

 _No Prophecy.  
_  
Angelic wings fluttered down to land restfully on the stone plateau, inky, star filled night sky glittering above. Careful cradling talons clutched the star speckled egg, an ever shifting gaze of care and sadness adorning the nebulous entity.

 _No weight on his shoulders.  
_  
The egg now lay on the stone ground, carefully tucked into a rocky cradle to be safe, with but a black and iridescent woven blanket to keep it warm. A head peeked up to the sky, the moons above glittering.

 _No Destiny but what HE chooses.  
_  
The star formed dragon all but shed a tear, trembling as they wrote in pristine lettering on the note besides the egg.

 _Care for him well, for he is borne of Stardust.  
_  
As the last words were scrawled on, heavenly light bathed the dragon's form, lifting them up into the starry abyss above. Uttering only a few words after, they were the last as they disappeared above.

"I'm sorry little one... may we meet again someday."

And just like that, the temperate night set in once again.

Not long after, a black and silver scaled dragon peered onto the stone outcropping, searching around. Moonwatcher then discovered the egg, wrapped in a blanket with a note.

"Oh moons..." She picked it up, cradling it in it's blanket, and read the attached note with increasing interest.

Once finished, she hurried inside and called the others. "Starflight! You need to hear this!"

She paced just out of the moonlight, all three moons at full.

"I've never seen anything like this before." Sunny marveled at the foreign egg, eyes wide with wonder and also a tinge of hope. "Do you think it's NightWing/RainWing hybrid?"

Tsunami stroked the egg ever so softly. "It would have smaller and more colorful scales. These are huge... not exactly scales, more like splotches of color. But..." She scratched her head. "It could be?"

The cave glowed with a soft fiery light, the moons still illuminating it partially through the opening. Clay, Sunny, Tsunami, Starflight, Peril and Moon sat anxiously by the egg, giving it space but making sure to keep it in view. Clay however sat a bit closer.

"I don't think we should focus on what it is, rather how we'll take care of it." Clay became giddy at the mere thought. "I wanna be the dad! Can I be the dad?"

Peril nosed up besides him. "Wouldn't that make ME the mom? I don't think the kid needs a fire-scaled mom he can't touch." Clay pawed her snout. "Don't say that! He'll have a great mom!"

Sunny prodded Clay's shoulder. "Uhm... I think I should be the mom? Since I'm gentler and such?"

Before Tsunami could throw her opinion in the middle, Starflight spoke up. "I THINK... we should all be the guardians of this egg. The more the merrier, right? Besides it's being raised in Jade Mountain, the place where dragons come to learn and grow close as family." Starflight nosed the egg and spoke ever so softer. "I believe that this dragonet will have the entire mountain of dragons as it's family."

The group collectively "awe"'d at Starflight's words, head nods signifying their agreement.

Clay still stuck his head over the egg again. "So that DOES mean I can be the dad?"

Sunny pushed his head aside, making way for the moons above to glance upon the color speckled egg. "You can be one of his dads yes. If this is how we're going to be taking care of him, who will he sleep with? Will we take turns, or will he sleep with only one of us? And what will he eat? Oh moons this is so exciting!" Sunny swayed her tail in an act to release some of her excited energy, meanwhile Glory had just landed in the cave opening.

"Hey! I came as soon as I heard what-" Glory went wide eyed at seeing the egg. "Oh my… That's a gorgeous egg…" She prodded closer and turned her head slightly. "Any idea what it is?"

A few heads shook, and Sunny cradled the egg in her arms as she sat on her back legs. "Nope… but we do know since he has no family, that we're all going to be his family." Sunny shot a smile at Glory. "Including you!"

The RainWing queen backed away a bit, looking almost anxious. "Uhm… I'm not… sure I'm ready for little hatchlings just yet, still getting used to queenliness." An idea swept away her sudden apprehension. "Can I be the royal aunt who can have him over every so often?"

Sunny shrugged and nodded. "Sure, I don't see why not!"

Tsunami interrupted the two again. "Excuse me," She inspected the egg again. "But how do we know it's a "He" again?"

Moon ever so gently took the egg from Sunny, and moved to the center of the room where the moonlight struck the dragon and egg both. The three moons above shone intensely, almost with a holy radiation. Moon stroked the egg softly and covered the bottom half more securely.

"The note said 'He'. So that's the assumption until otherwise debated." The other five dragons surrounded Moon but gave her a good tail-lengths space as well. Everyone could see Moonwatcher's intent and caring gaze towards the egg, but no one had any idea why Moon felt so strong towards it. No one dared take the egg back.

Tsunami still wasn't convinced however. "Even if the someone we were dealing with DID somehow know the gender of the dragon before birth… how? Either they're an animus, or can see the future, in which case, this whole thing seems kinda off." Tsunami gazes at the egg curiously, with a very slight cautious intent. "I'm very much on board for caring for the little guy and giving him a good future, but… Am I the only one who thinks this is a little weird?"

Glances exchanged themselves from dragon to dragon, confused to unsure to thoughtfulness, all cut short by Peril. "I agree with Tsunami, but another thought: Is everyone thinking it's going to hatch tonight?"

Another exchange of glances took place. Starflight answered Peril's question carefully. "I think it's probable, but it might not. Studies throughout Nightwing history have shown more eggs hatch on full moons, but then again a good amount still dont as well… All this only if the egg is even of Nightwing origin."

"I don't think it is." Moon interjected as her gaze stayed stuck on the egg. "I can hear… imprints of thought coming from inside. Feelings, impulses… It feels power, but something that's not Nightwing. I'm not sure it's animus either… It feels foreign, for lack of a better word."

This very much attracted Starflight's attention. "How… how foreign?"

Moon, in response to Starflight, closed her eyes and concentrated. "It feels… familiar. Like something I've felt before, but I'm REALLY sure I've never seen anything like it. I can't explain it any other way…" Upon feeling something else, her eyes flew open again.

"It's hatching!" She laid it down ever so gingerly, still surrounded by the blanket. Hushed gasps filled the room, nothing but the moonlight and blanket surrounding the egg.

For a couple moments, sacred silence and a tense, collective holding of breaths held the room. Clay and Peril sat side by side in silent, reassuring contact, Sunny and Glory both tense yet excited. Tsunami felt her cautious and battle ready impulses calm into something she hadn't felt before, mystified wonder. Starflight and Moon sat side by side, Moon brushing her wing by Starflight's.

And for a couple moments more, nothing happened. The moonlight seemed to be absorbed by the egg, basking in the great luminaries' power.

When doubt and question started to prod everyone's mind, a soft hum of energy emanated in the air. The wind seemed deathly still, once rushing outside now quiet and resigned to the moons command. To everyone's complete amazement, the egg's swaths of color swirled and mixed together, restricted to those areas only. Vast, astral like patterns of every color imaginable pulsated in those areas, while the black that covered the rest stayed true.

Then, slowly, and almost like a dream, the light that struck down from above began refracting around the egg. More light flowed in from seemingly nowhere, circling around and creating small, flickering, star like orbs; this rush of energy created an otherworldly hum that couldn't be described by words alone. Almost musical in its power, it refracted and swirled with even more energy, all seeping into the egg while slowly the lights faded and diminished. Once the lights faded into oblivion, the night resumed it's calm tranquility with only the moon's light shining down.

The hushed silence now held an electric feel of astonishment, wonder, no one let their glance leave the egg. All sat waiting, wondering, hoping, desperate to see what would happen next.

Nothing did. A full minute passed, no pecking, no rocking around, nothing. Everyone found their breath again, as worried glances found each other. A few more moments passed, and inactivity still reigned true.

"Huh…" Moon spoke first, breaking the holy silence. She cautiously approached the still lying egg, and took it in her arms again. Her expression shifting to surprised again, lifting it up.

"Woah… It's, heavier…" Carrying the egg and blanket again, she hefted it in her arms. Sunny and Tsunami gathered around again, Clay and Peril nosing in a bit. The circle completed itself with Glory and Starflight. Moon spoke quietly to herself.

"I have no idea what just happened, but the egg seems perfectly fine. The dragon inside is fine… Wonder what it's waiting for." Moon rubbed the egg softly, her talons gently clacking on the top. _Tic Tic._

After a few seconds, another sound soon had everyone's rapt attention.

 _Tak Tak._

All eyes went to the egg, where the sound came from. Moon, out of curiosity, tapped again.

 _Tic Tic._

A moment of silence.

 _Tak Tak._

Something inside the egg was tapping _back._

Moon's smile infected everyone else, a sign of life and curious intelligence. Moon tried tapping a bit harder.

"C'mon little guy, you got this!" _Tic Tic TIC._

Immediately after: _Tak Tak CRAK._ A good sized crack all around, originating from Moon's claw tapping, decorated the egg. Moon then tapped a few more times at the peak of the egg.

 _Tic Tic TIC._

And finally…

 _CRAK!_ A black scaled, rainbow ridged snout poked through the top. The rest of the shell and egg membrane broke off to reveal the little hatchling's head, bringing a communal gasp through the whole group.

His head, black scales domineering his snout, lay lined with scales that fluctuated in color constantly. Up his snout to his ears, from the tip of his brow to the bottom of his chin, all lined with multicolored wonder.

His eyes, held the most wonder and seemed to pierce the heavens above. The hatchling's pupils were wide and curious, gazing at the world above and around. His irises were like the ridges on his snout, a color wheel surrounding his pupil and adding wonderous color to his eyes.

After a moment more of gazing around, he stretched his wings to break the rest of the egg shell around him, leaving only the bottom half in tact. The dragons surrounding him all around peered in endless wonder and awe.

The rest of his body mimicked his head, rainbow scales along his body and along the ridges of his back and neck. His body style mimicked that of a MudWing and a RainWing, stout and rugged yet with a slender aspect that added a touch of undeniable elegance. His underbelly seemed the more normal aspect of him, being a soft greyish white. A scaly ridge ran along the middle of it, cresting along his chest and fading out his mid neck and mid waist.

Perhaps the most noticeable aspect lay in his wings; As he stretched them out for the first time, a collective gasp raised through the small crowd of dragons. Just as his eyes and ridged scales swirled with color, his wings brought that aspect to an entirely new level. Vast, nebulous swirls of color danced around ever so slowly, the backdrop of his wings endlessly black. Not just black, but a deep, portal-to-another-world black; almost like you could poke your head in and end up in space. Drops of silver prodded out of the endless black and stood as stars while the galaxies of vibrant hues morphed into intricate, powerful visions of space.

All in all, no one had ever seen anything like him before. The rainbow marbled dragon tilted his head, his soulful eyes making heartfelt eye contact with Moon. A soft trill of curiosity and warmth came forth as well.

Moon couldn't break her eyes from the newborn, and simply stroked his head gingerly. The hatchling nuzzled into her paw, a louder trill ringing out softly.

"...He's so precious…" Moon couldn't wipe her tears away, but had no need to as the hatchling poked forwards and nuzzled her tears away wondering what they were.

Sunny gingerly nosed her way closer, as did Clay. The two new faces attracted the attention of the hatchling, his head turning cutely. "Rwo?"

Clay's smile spread from ear to ear, as he nosed and nuzzled the adorable baby. "Oh my goodness gracious… you are the sweetest thing I've ever seen!" Clay lifted his head up, a big goofy smile plastered on his mug as the hatchling sat up upon his head happily. Sunny giggled to herself and plucked him off Clay's head, and snuggled him gingerly.

"Hehehe… he's a little troublemaker is what he is.~" Sunny stroked his head gingerly, the little one nuzzling into her claws heavily. Peril poked her head about, smiling widely.

"He's so… pure!" The hatchling's eyes found their way to Peril's, locking with such intensity Peril thought he was trying to crawl in them. As he poked his head up, he almost touched Peril's nose. She reared her head back quickly in a panic.

"No! Nonono, don't touch me little guy, I'm…" She sighed and turned away. "I should go, I really shouldn't be here." Clay obvious protested, but before he could say anything Peril retorted. "He might get burned, and I won't be responsible for anymore killing of-"

Everyone again immediately hushed seeing the tiny dragonet grabbing at Peril's flaming tail and cuddling into it. A soft sizzle permeated the room, but the little one seemed totally unfazed. In fact, he looked to be enjoying the warmth greatly.

"...He's… alright?" Peril carefully turned around, picking up the little one gingerly, as if one mistake might kill him instantly. The dragonet simply poked his head forwards, trying to get to Peril's face with a child like ambition.

A huge teary smile erupted on her face, then hugging and cradling the little one lovingly. "I take it back! Oh moons I take it back, I'm gonna be his mom!" Peril nosed the hatchling's nose, the little one nosing back with a happy little babyish bark. "Hehe… Aaaarwa!"

Clay sidled up to Peril happily, the couple both incredibly taken by this adorable little dragonet. The rest of the group decided to let them hold him for the time being. Tsunami, Glory and Sunny all gathered around to marvel at him. Moon and Starflight hung back however, Moon describing in great detail his features.

Meanwhile, the entrance to the cave filled with several heads, all dragonets who had heard the hubbub and wanted to see. Among those in the entrance were Turtle, Anemone and Pike, Sora and Umber. Kinkajou was also there, but didn't stay there for more than a few seconds and went directly to the hatchling himself.

"A NEW DRAGONET! OH MY GOSH LOOK AT HIS SCALES, THEY'RE JUST LIKE RAINWING SCALES! IS HE A HYBRID?! THAT IS SO COOL!" The group practically jumped out of their scales, and then heaved a sigh of relief. Shortly thereafter, annoyance and anger took hold. Tsunami and Glory stared her down.

"Kinkajou! You can't just barge in like that!" Glory pulled her back a little bit from the dragonet. "It's rude to do so, especially on occasions like this!"

Kinkajou (Being Kinkajou) moped and looked to the entrance. "Well what about them?!"

A few heads ducked back, but it was painfully apparent that the gang were being watched. Sunny and Tsunami sighed, and approached the cave. "Alright guys, you can come in." Sunny beckoned the group of watchers to come inside, Turtle, Anemone and Pike being the rest.

"Sorry." Turtle rubbed his head. "We heard some stuff going on, and wanted to investigate." Pike cut him short looking at Anemone.

"Because SOMEONE just had to know what was going on." Anemone shot him a glare and turned back to the group.

"Well regardless of all that… We saw what happened." The trio approached Clay and Peril, marveling at the hatchling. "...He's amazing."

Turtle and Pike agreed, while Kinkajou brought up the question weighing on several other dragon's minds.

"What's his name?"

At the simple question, everyone fell quiet. All that had come with the egg was a blanket, and a note.

Slowly, everyone cast their glance to Moon and Starflight. Moon nudged the Nightwing gently, he simply nodded and smiled. Moon, in turn, approached the hatchling and smiled, meeting his delicate and naively serene gaze. "Well… Isn't it obvious?"

The two nosed together, the little one trilling happily. At this, Moon seemed to capture a glance of something in the future indistinguishable, but certain: A name.

Moon spoke with certainty, and finality.

"His name is _Stardust_."

 **-Epilogue-**

Clay and Peril snuggled together in their sleep, Stardust safely tucked in between the two. The three slept soundly, happy and comfortable. Sunny and Moon peeked in each with satisfied smiles. Leaving the three alone to sleep, they returned to their respective rooms. Sunny leaned to Moon.

"Hey Moon?" Moon leaned over to Sunny. "Yeah?"

Sunny sat in the middle of the hall, near a window with the nearby river in view. "You said you felt something familiar. Can you explain a bit more?"

Moon sighed and gazed out the window. "Well… I mean I don't get many visions or anything everyday, but in special occasions like the downfall of Jade Mountain and stuff like that, then I'll get glimpses of the future."

Sunny turned to Moon worriedly. "Yeah but… that was a prophecy. What do you see in Stardust?"

Moon stayed silent for a good 15 seconds. The moons still hung overhead and lit the river up with a sacred glow, seeming similar to a river of liquid silver.

"I don't know… But I get impressions of both past and future." Moon gathered her thoughts and faced Sunny again. "Have you ever been to a place that you SWEAR you know but for the life of you it just won't click?"

Sunny squinted. "I mean… I think. Is that the feeling you get from him?"

Moon nodded. "Only from when I feel his past… I don't get images, or sounds, but rather raw feelings. And the only feeling I get, is something primal, raw, ancient… and undeniably familiar. But I can't place it and that frustrates me…" Moon glanced back to the trio, seeing their sleeping so soundly put a smile back on her face.

"But in his future I can feel brightness… struggle, but in the end happiness."

Sunny smiled and nosed Moon again. "Alright, then come what may we'll be there for him." Sunny yawned to herself. "I'm gonna sleep now, got a school to help run!"

The two bid each other good night and went their separate ways.

And dreams of the new hatchling graced everyone's sleep that night.

 **-X-**

"Sir, we've picked up an interesting power surge of Astral Energy."

A large black dragon, dressed in a few regal attirements, padded to the officer at the Comm. station. The surrounding stations cast a soft white glow on the two. "What's so interesting about it Lieutenant?"

The officer responded, bringing up multiple screens and zooming into a blue planet. The screens displayed on the front facing window, the starry expanse lying behind. A planet, fair and blue pierced the black expanse, a blinking dot on a single continent, adorning a prominent ridge.

"It's one of us. A royal blooded one at that… it's incredibly far off, a distant uncontacted planet. It might've been a glitch sir, shall I rescan?"

Studying the data on screen, the bigger dragon's expression shifted curiously, almost with worry.

"Make sure it's not a fluke, and once you have report to me immediately."

The smaller officer nodded and got to work. The bigger dragon padded off, his mind abuzz with the question:

 **' _Could it be him?'_**


End file.
